UNIVERSITY  OF  CALIFORNIA  Agricultural  Experiment  Station 

College  of  agriculture  e.  j.  wickson,  acting  director 

BERKELEY,   CALIFORNIA 


CIRCULAR  No.  26 

(September,  1906.) 


SELECTION  AND  PREPARATION  OF  VINE-CUTTINGS. 


BY 

FREDERIC  T.  BIOLETTI. 


One  of  the  most  important  factors  in  determining  the  profitableness 
of  a  vineyard  is  the  choice  of  the  cuttings  which  are  used  to  start  the 
vineyard.  This  factor  is  very  generally  neglected,  or  when  a  choice  is 
made  it  is  often  not  the  best. 

Any  one  who  will  carefully  examine  the  vines  in  a  vineyard  cannot 
help  being  struck  with  the  great  variation  in  the  amount  of  crop  on 
different  individual  vines.  Sometimes  this  variation  can  be  traced  to 
differences  in  pruning,  to  accidental  injuries,  to  more  or  less  irrigation, 
or  to  variations  in  soil  and  position.  There  is,  however,  a  good  deal  of 
variation  which  cannot  be  ascribed  to  any  of  these  causes  and  which 
exists  in  every  vineyard,  no  matter  how  uniform  the  conditions  or  how 
careful  the  cultivation. 

This  variation  is  something  which  is  inherent  in  the  vine  and  can- 
not be  overcome  by  any  cultural  method.  It  is  much  greater  in  some 
varieties  than  in  others.  With  some  varieties  it  is  so  great  that  certain 
vines  are  recognized  as  almost  sterile  and  are  commonly  called  ' '  mule ' ' 
vines  in  California.  With  other  varieties  the  variation  is  much  less 
noticeable,  but  is  none  the  less  real,  and  by  weighing  the  crop  of  each 
vine  in  a  row  it  will  be  found,  even  with  the  most  uniform  producers, 
to  exceed  50  per  cent.  If  every  vine  in  the  vineyard  bore  as  much  as 
the  vine  wTith  the  heaviest  crop  the  total  production  of  the  vineyard 
would  be  much  increased.  By  grafting  the  poor  bearers  with  cuttings 
from  the  best  bearers  the  crop  in  a  vineyard  has  been  more  than  dou- 
bled. Vineyards  of  unselected  Cabernet  produce  on  the  average  about 
two  tons  to  the  acre.  Cabernet  vineyards  from  carefully  selected  cut- 
tings have  produced  nine  tons. 

Owing  to  the  great  natural  fertility  of  most  of  our  Californian 
vineyards,  due  to  favorable  soil  and  climate,  these  facts  have  not  re- 
ceived the  attention  they  deserve.  In  most  parts  of  Europe,  and  even 
in  South  Africa,  more  care  is  taken  in  the  selection  of  cuttings  than 
here.  In  many  vineyards  the  vines  bearing  the  best  crops  are  marked 
and  cuttings  taken  only  from  these.  In  others  only  those  cuttings  are 
used  which  are  made  from  bearing  wood;  that  is,  from  canes  which 
have  borne  grapes,  as  shown  by  the  remains  of  the  bunch  stalks,  or  by 
the  position  of  the  cane  on  the  vine. 


It  is  perhaps  not  riprht  to  say  that  no  choice  is  exercised  in  the  selec- 
tion of  cuttings  in  California.  There  is  inevitably  some  choice,  though 
principally  unconscious  and  generally  harmful.  The  man  who  is  mak- 
ing cuttings  will,  if  he  has  no  other  standard,  choose  those  canes  which 
he  can  work  up  with  the  greatest  ease.  These  are  the  long,  unbranched 
canes  from  the  most  vigorous  vines.  Such  canes  are  usually  suckers  or 
wnter-sprouts,  the  least  fruitful  on  the  vine,  and  the  most  vigorous 
vines  are  generally  those  which  have  produced  the  fewest  grapes.  Such 
selection  as  this  cannot  fail  to  be  harmful,  especially  with  the  finer  va- 
rieties, which  vary  more  than  the  common,  and  must  finally  result  in 
the  deterioration  of  all  varieties. 

The  ordinary  European  method  of  simply  marking  the  vines  which 
bear  good  crops  the  year  the  cuttings  are  taken  is  imperfect  and  can 
do  no  more  than  keep  the  varieties  from  deteriorating.  By  more  care- 
ful selection,  continued  systematically  for  a  series  of  years,  it  has  been 
proved  possible  to  greatly  increase  the  bearing  qualities  of  certain  va- 
rieties. Other  qualities  besides  that  of  more  or  less  productiveness 
could  undoubtedly  be  influenced  by  the  same  means.  In  this  way  nu- 
merous variations  of  the  Pinot  or  Burgundy  have  arisen.  These  varia- 
tions differ  from  the  type  in  color,  acidity,  time  of  ripening,  and  even 
in  flavor.  It  would  probably  be  possible  to  produce  a  loose  bunched 
Tokay,  a  close  bunched  Zabalkanski,  or  a  large  fruited  Sultanina  in  the 
same  way. 

There  is  no  quality,  however,  which  varies  so  much  with  individual 
vines  as  that  of  bearing,  and  there  is  no  quality  that  is  so  quickly  and 
easily  influenced  by  cutting  selection.  It  is  this  quality,  therefore, 
which  should  receive  most  attention  in  choosing  our  cuttings.  The 
modification  of  other  characteristics  is  the  work  of  the  plant  breeder 
and  is  too  slow,  difficult  and  uncertain  for  the  practical  grape  grower. 
It  is,  moreover,  at  least  in  the  case  of  wine  grapes,  unnecessary,  for  we 
can  find  almost  any  quality  we  want  among  the  two  or  three  thousand 
known  varieties  of  wine  grapes,  but  unfortunately  not  always  com- 
bined with  high  productiveness.  The  most  promising  means  of  obtain- 
ing the  rara  avis  we  desire  is  to  commence  with  a  variety  possessing 
the  necessary  flavor,  color  and  chemical  composition  and  by  proper  cut- 
ting selection  to  bring  up  its  productiveness  to  the  desired  degree.  It 
would  be  much  easier  to  "grade  up"  the  Cabernet  until  it  bore  crops 
equal  to  those  of  the  Carignane  than  to  attempt  to  improve  greatly  the 
flavor  and  color  of  Carignane  by  selection. 

Method  of  Selection.  The  first  question  to  be  settled  is,  of  course, 
what  variety  should  be  chosen.  This  will  depend  on  whether  it  is  in- 
tended to  raise  table,  raisin,  or  wine  grapes,  and  if  wine  grapes,  on  the 
kind  of  wine  desired,  sweet  or  dry,  red  or  white,  and  also  on  a  multi- 
plicity of  local  and  market  conditions.'  The  question  of  variety  is  too 
Large  and  complicated  for  treatment  here  and  has  already  been  given 
much  attention  in  various  publications  of  the  Station.  Only  the  ques- 
tions regarding  the  means  of  obtaining  cuttings  capable  of  growing 
into  strong,  heavy  bearing  vines  will  be  considered  here. 


The  Locality.  Any  locality  where  the  vine  grows  vigorously  and 
ripens  its  wood  regularly  will  produce  good  cuttings.  As  a  rule  the 
warmer  localities  produce  the  best  wood,  heavy,  firm  and  well  nour- 
ished. The  canes  on  vines  grown  very  near  the  coast,  as  at  Berkeley, 
are  often  soft  and  pithy.  Certain  varieties  such  as  Refosco  and 
Almeria  do  not  ripen  their  wood  well  in  the  cooler  parts  even  of 
Sonoma  and  Santa  Cruz  counties  where  they  are  exposed  to  frequent 
sea  fogs  during  the  summer.  Being  immature  when  the  frosts  cause 
the  leaves  to  fall,  the  canes  are  easily  attacked  by  saprophytic  fungi. 
The  work  of  these  fungi  is  often  seen  in  the  blackened  or  mottled  ap- 
pearance of  the  canes.  Any  discoloration  of  the  canes  is  a  bad  sign, 
whether  it  is  caused  by  fungi  which  only  attack  imperfectly  matured 
wood,  or  by  parasitic  fungi,  such  as  oidium,  which  may  occur  any- 
where. With  the  exception  of  a  few  isolated  localities  quite  near  the 
coast,  it  may  be  said  that  good,  well  ripened  cuttings  may  be  obtained 
from  any  of  the  vine-growing  regions  of  California. 

Vine  Diseases.  An  exception  should  perhaps  be  made  to  this  state- 
ment as  regards  localities  where  the  so-called  Anaheim  disease  is  prev- 
alent. Until  we  know  more  about  that  disease  it  is  wiser  to  avoid 
obtaining  our  cuttings  from  such  regions.  That  this  disease  can  be 
transported  and  communicated  by  cuttings  is  perhaps  not  thoroughly 
demonstrated,  but  at  all  events  the  disease  results  in  poor  growth  and 
poor  wood,  and  cuttings  from  diseased  vines  cannot  be  expected  to  give 
the  best  results. 

With  regard  to  other  diseases  there  need  be  no  fear  of  their  intro- 
duction into  the  vineyard  by  means  of  cuttings.  Phylloxera  can  be 
guarded  against  by  proper  disinfection  of  the  cuttings  and  all  other 
vine  diseases,  which  exist  in  California,  are  found  in  every  district. 
This  is  not  true  as  regards  rooted  cuttings.  There  is  no  sure  and  prac- 
ticable method  of  destroying  Phylloxera  on  the  roots,  and  rooted  vines 
should  be  introduced  into  a  new  district  only  with  extreme  caution. 

While  there  need  be  no  fear  of  introducing  Oidium,  vine-hoppers, 
etc.,  for  they  exist  in  every  vine-growing  region  of  California,  no  cut- 
tings should  be  used  which  show  distinct  signs  of  their  attacks,  as  such 
signs  are  proof  that  the  vines  from  which  the  cuttings  came  were  not 
perfectly  healthy,  and  unhealthy  vines  do  not  produce  the  best  cut- 
tings. 

The  Vineyard.  As  a  rule  it  is  best  to  obtain  the  cuttings  in  the 
district  where  they  are  to  be  planted,  if  the  desired  variety  is  grown 
there.  The  only  exceptions  to  this  rule  are  for  districts  where  Ana- 
heim, Oidium,  or  some  other  disease  is  so  prevalent  that  it  is  difficult 
to  find  perfectly  healthy  vines. 

The  locality  being  decided  on,  it  is  not  a  matter  of  indifference 
what  vineyard  is  chosen.  Only  a  well  kept,  vigorous  vineyard  can  pro- 
duce the  best  cuttings.  If  the  vineyard  is  badly  cultivated,  the  vines 
mildewed,  or  the  grapes  of  poor  quality,  it  is  a  bad  source  for  our  cut- 
tings. A  vineyard  which  has  healthy  vines  producing  paying  crops  of 
good  grapes  is  the  best  place  to  get  them. 


The  Vines.  Given  the  locality  and  the  vineyard:  from  which  vines 
in  this  vineyard  shall  we  take  our  cuttings?  This  is  the  most  impor- 
tant question  of  all  and  that  which  is  most  generally  neglected.  It  is 
hardly  necessary  to  say  that  no  cuttings  should  be  taken  from  vines 
which  have  never  produced  a  good  crop.  Some  such  vines  exist  in 
nearly  every  vineyard.  A  few  growers  mark  such  vines  and  avoid 
them  when  making  cuttings.  It  would  be  better  to  graft  them  over  or 
dig  them  out. 

Instead  of  marking  the  poorest  vines  in  order  to  avoid  them,  it  is 
better  to  marjs  the  best  vines  in  order  to  choose  them  when  making  cut- 
tings. When  the  crop  is  ripe  and  still  on  the  vines  the  vineyard  should 
be  gone  over  carefully  and  a  sufficient  number  of  the  best  vines  marked 
to  supply  the  amount  of  cuttings  needed.  Only  vines  showing  health, 
vigor  and  heavy  crop  of  well-ripened  grapes  should  be  marked.  A  dab 
of  paint  on  the  stake  or  the  stem  of  the  vine  is  perhaps  the  most  con- 
venient way  of  marking. 

While  this  will  insure  our  cuttings  coming  only  from  vines  which 
are  capable  of  producing  a  satisfactory  crop,  it  omits  one  very  impor- 
tant factor — the  regularity  of  bearing.  Some  vines  bear  good  crop 
occasionally,  or  on  alternate  years.  The  ideal  vine  is  one  which  bears 
a  good  crop  every  year.  This  vine  we  can  find  only  by  keeping  a  con- 
tinuous record  of  its  performance.  This  can  be  done  to  some  extent 
by  going  over  the  vineyard  every  year  just  before  the  vintage  and 
marking  every  vine  which  has  a  good  crop.  At  the  end  of  four  or  five 
years  the  vines  which  have  borne  a  good  crop  every  year  will  show  four 
or  five  marks,  and  these  are  the  vines  most  likely  to  yield  cuttings  ca- 
pable of  producing  a  vineyard  of  ideal  vines. 

To  make  this  selection  most  effectively  and  quickly  would  require 
a  special  vineyard  for  the  purpose.  A  vineyard  of  pedigreed  vines  of 
all  our  most  desirable  varieties  would  be  a  most  valuable  acquisition 
for  the  State.  Such  a  vineyard  might  be  started  with  cuttings  selected 
in  the  way  described,  and  each  variety  gradually  brought  up  to  its 
highest  possible  bearing  capacity,  by  grafting  all  the  vines  of  each 
variety  with  cuttings  taken  from  the  vine  of  that  variety  which  had 
shown  the  best  and  most  regular  bearing  qualities  during  a  term  of 
years.  Twenty-five  or  thirty  such  vines  of  each  variety  would  be  suffi- 
cient to  maintain  and  improve  the  productiveness  of  all  the  vineyards 
in  the  State  if  it  were  used  to  supply  stock  to  nurserymen  and  other 
growers  of  vine  cuttings.  This  would  make  it  unnecessary  to  abandon 
many  of  the  finest  varieties  of  grapes,  as  has  been  done  to  a  great  ex- 
tent lately. 

Pari  of  the  Vine.  While  any  cutting  from  a  good  vine  is  probably 
better  than  the  best  cutting  from  a  poor  vine,  it  is  not  a  matter  of  in- 
difference from  what  part  of  the  vine  the  cuttings  are  taken.  It  is  a 
well  established  fact  known  to  all  skilled  pruners  that  certain  buds  on 
a  vine  are  much  more  likely  to  produce  fruit  than  others.  These  buds 
may  be  called,  from  analogy  with  similar  bud  on  orchard  trees,  fruit 
buds.    The  fruit  buds  of  vines,  unlike  those  of  most  orchard  trees,  are 


not  distinguishable  by  shape  or  size  from  wood  or  sterile  buds.  They 
can  be  recognized  only  by  their  position. 

The  buds  on  suckers  (canes  from  below  the  ground)  or  water- 
sprouts  (canes  from  the  trunk  or  older  parts  of  the  arms)  are  usually 
unfruitful  with  most  varieties.  The  only  buds  which  can  be  depended 
on  to  give  fruit  are  those  on  canes  which  have  grown  on  wood  of  the 
previous  year,  or  as  primers  usually  express  it,  "fruit  spurs  and  fruit 
canes  consist  of  one-year-old  wood  growing  out  of  two-year-old  wood. ' ' 
The  canes  of  such  wood  are  called  by  the  grape-growers  of  South  Af- 
rica "bearers,"  and  no  others  are  used  for  making  cuttings. 

Now,  while  the  choice  of  this  wood  is  perfectly  safe,  it  has  not  been 
demonstrated  that  such  choice  is  necessary.  It  may  be  that  cuttings 
taken  from  heavy  bearing  vines  will  grow  into  other  heavy  bearing 
vines  whether  they  have  originally  been  water-sprouts  or  fruit  wood. 
This  seems  probable,  for  in  pruning  vines  it  is  constantly  necessary  to 
use  water-sprouts  to  form  spurs  for  the  purpose  of  replacing  lost  arms 
or  for  shortening  arms  which  have  grown  too  long.  Now,  while  these 
spurs  bear  little  or  no  fruit  the  first  year,  they  give  rise  to  wood  the 
following  year,  which  satisfies  the  primer's  definition  of  fruit  wood, 
viz.,  "one-year-old  wood  out  of  two-year-old  wood,"  and  which  is  ap- 
parently as  fruitful  as  any  wood  on  the  vine.  A  sucker,  or  water- 
sprout  from  a  fruitful  vine,  therefore,  is  to  be  preferred  in  making 
cuttings  to  a  fruit  cane  from  a  vine  which  bears  small  crops. 

All  canes  and  all  parts  of  the  cane,  however,  are  not  equally  suit- 
able for  cuttings.  Very  small,  thin  canes  are  apt  to  be  ill-nourished 
and  immature,  as  are  also  the  tips  of  better  canes.  Many  cuttings 
made  from  such  material  are  apt  to  fail,  or  give  weak  vines.  Very 
large,  over-grown  cuttings  are  also  to  be  avoided.  Many  growers  avoid 
using  the  two  or  three  buds  nearest  the  base  of  the  cane  on  the  ground 
that  such  buds  are  not  fruit  buds,  but  the  same  reasoning  may  be  ap- 
plied to  this  case  as  to  that  of  water-sprouts.  A  medium  sized  cutting 
between  three-eighths  and  five-eighths  inches  in  diameter  is  most  likely 
to  give  good  results. 

Form  and  Length  of  Cutting.  It  was  formerly  considered  good 
practice  to  leave  a  piece  of  old  wood  attached  to  the  base  of  the  cut- 
ting, on  the  ground  that  such  cuttings  always  grew.  This  practice  is 
now  very  generally  abandoned,  as  it  often  gives  rise  to  weak  and  dis- 
eased vines.  The  piece  of  old  wood  always  decays  finally,  and  the 
decay  may  spread  into  the  trunk  and  roots  of  the  vine.  A  ^ood  cut- 
ting should  consist  exclusively  of  one-year-old  wood ;  that  is,  the  wood 
which  has  grown  during  the  current  season. 

The  form  and  length  of  the  cuttings  will  depend  on  the  use  that  is 
to  be  made  of  them.  If  they  are  to  be  used  as  scions  for  grafting  they 
may  be  cut  up  in  any  way  and  of  any  length  that  is  found  convenient 
for  handling  and  keeping  them  in  good  condition.  If  they  are  to  be 
used  for  rooting  either  in  the  nursery  or  the  vineyard  it  is  most  con- 
venient to  cut  them  up  into  the  exact  lengths  which  are  to  be  planted. 

The  length  will  depend  altogether  on  the  soil  and  climate  where 


they  are  to  be  planted.  They  should  be  of  such  a  length  that  when 
planted  the  base  of  the  cutting  will  be  at  the  level  where  the  conditions 
are  most  favorable  to  root  formation.  If  the  base  is  too  deep,  it  will  be 
too  wet  and  too  cold  to  develop  roots.  Roots  will  start  higher  up  and 
the  bottom  part  will  be  wasted,  or  worse  still,  may  decay  and  injure 
the  vine.  If  the  base  is  too  near  the  surface  the  whole  cutting  may  dry 
out  and  die  before  its  roots  have  developed  sufficiently  to  supply  it 
with  water. 

In  the  moister  soils  of  the  cooler  districts  a  cutting  10  inches  long 
is  sufficient  for  direct  planting  in  the  vineyard.  In  the  drier  and 
warmer  interior  a  14-  to  16-inch  cutting  is  better,  while  in  the  driest 
soils  of  the  warmest  districts  it  is  often  necessary  to  have  a  cutting  18 
to  20  inches  long.  For  planting  in  the  nursery  a  12-  or  14-inch  cutting « 
is  about  the  most  convenient.  If  the  soil  of  the  nursery  is  wet  and  cold 
more  of  the  cutting  should  be  left  above  ground;  if,  on  the  contrary, 
the  soil  tends  to  be  hot  and  dry  the  cutting  must  be  planted  deeper 
and  even  covered  up  completely. 

It  is  not  necessary,  or  possible,  to  make  every  cutting  of  exactly  the 
same  length,  because  they  should  all  terminate  at  each  end  at  a  node. 
A  vine  cane  consists  of  nodes  where  the  buds  are  and  internodes  be- 
tween the  buds.  The  pith  is  interrupted  at  each  node  by  a  woody  par- 
tition which  extends  through  the  cane  at  each  bud.  In  making  a  cut- 
ting, therefore,  we  should  cut  exactly  through  a  bud  both  at  the  top 
and  at  the  bottom.  This  will  leave  the  woody  partitions,  which  will 
prevent  decay  at  the  bottom  and  drying  out  at  the  top. 

Conservation  of  Cuttings.  In  some  cases  vine  cuttings  may  be 
planted  with  success  as  soon  as  they  are  made.  This  can  be  done  only 
in  light,  well-drained  soils  where  there  is  no  danger  of  the  ground  be- 
coming water-logged  and  remaining  in  this  condition  for'  some  time. 
Except  in  such  cases  it  is  better  to  defer  the  planting  of  the  cuttings 
until  most  of  the  winter  rains  are  over  and  the  soil  commences  to  warm 
up  in  the  Spring. 

To  preserve  the  cuttings  in  good  condition  until  this  time  they  must 
be  kept  from  drying  out  or  being  injured  by  too  much  moisture.  If 
they  are  buried  in  sand  or  loose  soil  in  such  a  way  that  at  least  the 
butts  are  in  contact  with  the  soil  they  will  keep  well  until  April.  The 
sand  should  be  comparatively  dry  and  well  sifted  in  to  the  centers  of 
the  bundles  of  cuttings.  These  bundles  should  be  small  and  if  they 
are  to  remain  in  the  sand  for  more  than  two  weeks  they  should  be 
loosely  tied,  or  better  still,  not  tied  at  all,  but  simply  buried  in  thin 
layers.  Unless  the  sand  is  in  contact  with  the  cuttings  nearly  every- 
where, many  will  dry  out,  and  die  if  the  sand  is  dry,  or  they  will  mold 
and  decay  if  the  sand  is  moist. 

A  good  place  to  bury  the  cuttings  is  a  shed  or  cellar  or  on  the  north 
side  of  a  building.  If  such  a  place  is  unobtainable  they  may  be  put  in 
a  hole  at  least  as  deep  as  the  cuttings  and  covered  up  well  with  soil. 
Over  this  soil  should  be  placed  a  thick  bed  of  straw,  or  other  material, 
to  prevent  the  soil  drying  or  becoming  too  warm.    This  last  precaution 


\ 


is  particularly  necessary  if  the  planting  is  to  be  delayed  until  late 
Spring",  for  otherwise  the  buds  and  roots  may  start.  Cuttings  which 
have  started  slightly  before  being  planted  will  often  grow,  but  they  do 
not  make  the  best  growth. 

Above  all,  the  cuttings  must  be  protected  from  too  much  moisture. 
A  cutting  injured  by  being  kept  too  wet  is  useless,  while  one  kept  a 
little  too  dry  will  give  good  plants  if  soaked  in  water  for  a  day  or  two 
before  being  planted. 

Definition  of  Good  Vine  Cuttings. 

They  should  be  : — 

1.  Taken  from  a  healthy  vine  which  has  borne  good  crops,  regularly. 

2.  Of  medium  size,  one-third  to  two-thirds  inch  in  diameter. 

3.  Made  from  bearing  wood  (?). 

4.  Well  ripened,  as  shown  by  firmness  of  wood,  light  colored  pith  and  well- 

formed  buds.' 

5.  Healthy,  as  shown  by  clear,  uniform  color. 

6.  Medium  jointed  (length  of  joints  varying  according  to  variety). 

7.  Moist.    It  should  be  possible  to  squeeze  out  a  little  sap  from  a  newly  made 

cut. 

8.  Uninjured  by  too  much  moisture.     The  pith  should  not  have  turned  black 

or  the  bark  have  become  loose. 

9.  Of  the  length  most  suited  to  the  place  where  they  are  to  be  planted. 
10.     Cut  through  a  bud  both  at  top  and  bottom. 


